Behind The Cameras

Rihanna's Pov Turning the corner from my job at the bank to my home I feel the same feeling that I’ve been feeling every night like someone is watching me. It has made me look over my shoulder more but everytime I do there’s nothing there so I have stopped. However the feeling has made me start to carry pepper spray and pocket knives in case I was kidnapped. It sounds crazy but I’ve been preparing for a fight just in case. A fight for my life that I hope will never have to happen but with this feeling never leaving I know I might.I walk into my apartment triple checking the front door is locked and then begin to start checking my windows for any signs of break ins and mistakes in the latches, a nightly routine I have been obsessed with since the feeling first came up six months ago. Making sure the last window is locked and secured I finally sit down in my living room ready to give my mind a break when I notice a cookbook on my shelf missing, someone was here. I want to blame my memory but I was sure I put it back after I used it for dinner last night but I got up to check the kitchen just to be sure. There is my first edition cookbook sitting on the edge of the counter, but I can’t recall ever leaving it in here. It’s not like someone could have broken in. I would've seen glass. I checked my windows and doors before leaving every morning and the doorman would’ve said something. I sigh, having no choice but to blame my memory. I pick it up and put it back on the shelf next to my old yearbook and a travel guide for this city I picked up a year ago. I try letting the weird feeling I have fade reminding myself I’m at home and safe now. Being on edge so much I feel like cooking is the one place I can let that go so I've been doing a lot of cooking and giving the extra to my coworkers, which they have been loving. I’m glad someone is benefitting from my stress baking and cooking at least. Rolling out the dough to start my pot pie, my hands start to shake as I get the same feeling I got on my walk home, like someone was watching me. I usually feel it when I’m walking but this is the first time I’m feeling it at my house. I look over my shoulder expecting to see someone but only locking eyes with my shadow.I close my eyes and take a deep breath steadying my hands and reminding myself that I can’t let a feeling control my life in my house like I let it control my life outside. I go back to cooking hoping the feeling was in my head like I always do but always keeping my head on the swivel I’ve grown used to over the months. .I finish cooking up the pie after an hour and half of hard work and make my serving, put some away for lunch and store the rest away for my coworkers. I sat down in front of the TV and put on a kids cartoon letting the noise drown out my paranoid thoughts.I wash my dish when I’m done and start my shower but the feeling of being watched is back I ignore it as I scrub myself in the shower from the day's dirt and grime but as I get dressed and head to bed not one does the feeling fade. Pulling the covers back, getting ready to go to sleep after such a long day. I closed my eyes waiting for sleep to follow as I wondered what or who could possibly be after me, maybe I should just let it go and live my life again, it’s been months and I’ve seen no one. As my eye lids get heavier I finally drift off to sleep and my dream begins. I’m walking through the park at night, a little shortcut I take home from work that pops up again. I look left to right but this time I see a shadow figure in the distance behind me and I freeze up. I try to run but I feel like I’m moving in slow motion as he catches up with me. My heart is beating but I start to accept my faith. This is how I’m dying. But when he finally catches me he does something so unexpected. He holds me against his hard chest, chokes me just hard enough to make me wet and force my head back so he can whisper in my ear and say “ there’s only so much you can run from me before I lose my patience sweet girl” then he lets me go. Jolting out of my sleep I look over the clock flashing 2:48 AM hours before I should be up. My body is running off of adrenaline and I look around my empty room to find what woke me up but come up with nothing. I sigh laying back down thinking about my old room that had more than just a bed in it but there was too much stuff to hide behind. I have changed my whole life because of this feeling but I was starting to think I was just becoming paranoid but just in case I wasn’t I had changed everything. I tossed and turned all night wondering how I could get my life back but just like the thought of the feeling going away it was hopeless. I couldn't find any way to get over it, but maybe I could embrace it like in the dream. Maybe I can learn to love being watched at least I could enjoy my life instead of being scared and if I wasn’t being watched even better. Damien POV My heart races as I watch my sweet girl on the monitor sleeping,observing every breath she takes. It took a lot of effort but I finally set the cameras up in her apartment. Owning a security company has its perks when it comes to the best surveillance out there and getting access to buildings. It was easy to offer the landlord of her building a free year of surveillance and while my crew worked on the building I worked on her room. My sweet girl, she has no clue yet but she will be mine one day. I just have to introduce myself to her. All 6 monitors come together to make a masterpiece of surveillance. From the cameras hidden in her light bulb in the living room to the teddy bear camera in her bedroom I can always watch her. She scrunches her face up before jolting up gasping for air. I raise my hand wanting to comfort her “ soon my sweet girl, I’ll save you from all your nightmares” I say as I put my hand back down resuming my grip on the arm chair. She looks right at the teddy bear camera with a squint before shaking her head and laying back down, not allowing herself to think something so innocent could be the cause of her distress. I can’t help but let a little chuckle slip past my lips, she really is something else. She’s a smart girl who knows someone is out there watching, knows that there are horrible men like me who exist in this world. I hope she knows I’m watching so she can put on a show for me. Just the thought of her knowing I’m watching and putting on a show just for ME has my pants stretching. I stare waiting for her breathing to return back to normal letting me know she’s back asleep before finally leaning back in my chair letting myself relax and my mind wandered to the first time we met. The ugly yellow wallpaper of a run down hotel suddenly didn’t bother me as much once I saw her across the street. I knew I had to have her. She smiled once and I was hooked, but it wasn’t towards me no, it was towards a member at her bank. I have never been so jealous in my life. I watched her for hours that day while setting up the cameras for the hotel. The way her brown hair swung over her shoulders while she was working it was everything. I’ve never been one to creep on other people despite owning a surveillance company but she had my attention since day one. I wanted to see her, smell her, let her know I thought she was the prettiest girl in the world with her green eyes and freckles. I knew she was mine, She just doesn’t know it yet. I’ll watch her for as long as it takes for her to notice just how far I'll go for her.She’ll know she belongs to ME.